Conrad Murray: Prison Has Been "My Most Horrendous Experience"

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Dr. Conrad Murray listens as the jury returns with a guilty verdict in his involuntary manslaughter trial.

Updated at 8:10 AM PDT on Friday, Apr 26, 2013

Michael Jackson's personal physician was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 for the pop star's death, but Conrad Murray's legal problems are far from over.

Murray's lawyer is working hard to overturn his conviction, though not for a shorter sentence -- he is set to be released this fall due to prison overcrowding - but to clear his name and get his life back, according to his attorney Valerie Wass.

Murray, who spoke to Savannah Guthrie on the "Today" show by phone on Friday from his prison cell in Los Angeles, adamantly denies any wrongdoing and laments his time spent in prison.

"It has been one of my most horrendous experiences," Murray said. "I have only survived because of the hope and support that I get from various individuals and I would especially like to say that my girlfriend Nicole Alvarez has been just tremendous."

The doctor's legal problems could be complicated by a new lawsuit filed by Jackson's family against the promoters of the singer's final concert tour. Murray said he was hired by AEG Live to serve as Jackson's doctor.

"What the Jackson family is going to argue is AEG is really responsible for everything that Conrad Murray did wrong because they put the pressure on him, they reminded him that they're the ones in charge," said Loyal Law School Professor Laurie Levenson.

AEG says they did not hire Murray and denies any involvement in Jackson's death.

Jackson died four years ago from cardiac arrest brought on by acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication. Propofol was found in the room where the singer died after Murray left him unattended.

But Wass said that Jackson was on a saline drip the night he died and did not need to be monitored. And while Jackson gained access to the propofol that killed him, it was never determined where he got the drug, she said.

"I met Michael Jackson with his own stash of medication," Murray said. "I tried to get rid of the propofol from Michael Jackson. He might not have liked the approach that I took, but nonetheless the circumstances were to actually get him away from that agent."